Charging door for incinerator unit

ABSTRACT

An incinerator charging door which includes both a closure and a compartment for receiving the material to be incinerated. The compartment and the closure are mounted in side-by-side relation so that they can be selectively aligned with an opening to the incinerator and either one or the other is interposed between a user and the incinerator.

1 United States Patent 1191 Inventor: Richard J. Eberle, North Wales,Pa.

Assignee: Stainless, Inc., North Wales, Pa.

Filed: Aug. 9, 1971 Appl. No.: 170,182

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10/1929 Heybeck 193/34 Eberle 1July 3, 1973 [54] CHARGING DOOR FOR INCINERATOR 1,632,536 6/1927 Breen193/34 UNIT 1,287,711 12 191s Lichtenberg 214/35 R PrimaryExaminer-Kenneth W. Sprague Attorney-Arthur J. Seidel et al.

ABSTRACT 10 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PAIENIHJJuLs 191s sum 1 or 2INVENTOR RICHARD J. EBERLE' A TTOR/VEYS CHARGING DOOR FOR INCINERATORUNIT This invention relates to incinerators and more particularly tocharging doors for incinerators.

When inexperienced or untrained persons use incinerators, there is alikelihood that they will be injured. Such injury can result from thedepositing of flammable materials into the incinerator. Thus, ifparticulate material such as flour, aerosol cans or the like aredeposited into the incinerator they are likely to cause flash explosionsin the incinerator chute or explode in the incinerator hurling shrapnelthrough the incinerator chute.

Hence, if the door to the incinerator chute is not closed prior to theignition or explosion of these materials, it is likely that injury couldresult to the person who deposited them in the incinerator.

Hence, it is an object of this invention to provide a novel andunobvious incinerator charging door.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a charging door foran incinerator which eliminates the likelihood of injury resulting fromexplosions in the incinerator and the incinerator chute.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a charging doorfor an incinerator having a closure and a material receiving compartmentadjacent thereto so that either the compartment or the closure can beselectively aligned with the opening to the incinerator chute so that aportion of the charging door is always interposed between a user and theincinerator chute.

Other objects and advantages of the subject invention will be apparentfrom a detailed description thereof which follows.

Generally, the invention relates to a charging door for a containerwhich has an opening. The charging door comprises closure means forclosing the opening and a bottomless compartment adjacent the closure.The closure is mounted for movement between open and normally closedpositions. Movement of the closure to its open position is operative toalign the bottomless compartment with the opening in the container sothat material therein can enter the container.

Reference is made to the drawings where a presently preferred form ofthe invention is illustrated.

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of an incinerator utilizing a chargingdoor constructed in accordance with a presently preferred form of theinvention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the incinerator illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of the incineratorillustrated in FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 however, showing the closure in itsopen position.

Referring now to the drawing for a detailed description of theinvention, a container such as incinerator is mounted'by means of base12 on suitable flooring. The incinerator has a lower doorway 14 and astack 16. A burning zone 18 is connected by a side access 20 with alower chute 22. The lower chute may be connected to an upper chute 24.The lower and upper chutes 22 and 24 may be interconnected by boltswhich join opposed facing flanges thereon. The upper and lower chutesdefine a passage which slopes upwardly and outwardly away from theburning zone 18 of the incinerator.

A charging door 26 is disposed at the top of the upper chute 24. Thecharging door is pivotally mounted on pillow blocks 27 for rotationabout a horizontal axis.

The pillow blocks 27 are supported by the side walls 28 of the upperchute.

As best seen in FIG. 3, the upper and lower chutes have metal skins 30which are lined with suitable insulating material 31 and firebrick 32.

The upper chute includes a first wall 34 and a second wall 36 whichdefine an upwardly facing opening 38 into the upper chute. The firstwall is positioned generally below the pillow blocks 27.

A compartment bottom 42 of arcuate configuration is supported on theoutside of first wall 34. It has a downwardly directed lip 44 whichfunctions as a sealing member in a manner to be described.

In a like manner, inverted angle 46 forms a sealing member on secondwall 36.

The charging door comprises a bottomless compartment 52 adjacent aclosure 54. The bottomless compartment includes a door 56 which ismounted so that it can close doorway 58.

Closure 54 comprises a front wall 62 and a rear wall 64 defining asector of a circle. The closure includes an arcuate liner 66 comprisedof firebrick. The front wall has a gasket 68 which is adapted tocooperate with downwardly directed lip 44 while the rear wall has agasket 70 adapted to cooperate with inverted angle 46.

The bottomless compartment is comprised of a plu-' rality of side walls74. One of the side walls is defined by the aforementioned front wall62.

Another side wall 74 includes doorway 58 permitting access to thecompartment. The door 56 which is lined with a gasket to cause a sealaround the doorway is mounted for pivotal movement between open andclosed positions about an axis 82 which is parallel to the axis definedby aforementioned pillow blocks 27. The door includes a handle 84.

A blade 86 is mounted transversely of the path of movement of thecharging door. on the interior of the side wall below the doorway.

The operation of the incinerator charging door can best be understood byreferring to FIGS. 3 and 4. Normally, the charging door is in theposition illustrated in FIG. 3 where closure 54 overlies opening 38.Gaskets 68 and 70 are in abutment with lip 44 and angle 46 so thatopening 38 is sealed. This is because the firebrick 66 tends to pivotthe closure beneath the pillow blocks 27. Thus, it yieldingly urges theclosure into close contact with the seals. The door 56 is opened andmaterial to be incinerated 88 is loaded in the bottomless compartment52. It rests on arcuate compartment bottom As seen in FIG. 3, there isno communication between the bottomless compartment and the opening 38in the chute.

The door 56 is then closed and with the same motion, the charging dooris pivoted about pillow blocks 27 to the position illustrated in FIG. 4.The closure yields to permit this pivoting.

In FIG. 4, the closure 54 has been displaced and the bottomlesscompartment 52 is in alignment with opening 38, permitting the material88 to fall into the upper chute 24 whereby it enters the burning zone 18of the incinerator. Blade 86 is operative to engage the material andpush it along the arcuate compartment bottom 42 and into opening 38.Because the blade slopes upwardly and away from the arcuate compartmentbottom 42 it tends to prevent the material 88 from being jammed betweenthe bottomless compartment 52 and the compartment bottom 42.

It should be noted that the door 56 is closed when the charging door isdisplaced. Thus, gasket 80 is operative to form a tight seal betweendoor 56 and doorway 58.

After handle 84 is released, the weight of the firebrick 66 in theclosure causes the charging door to pivot about pillow blocks 27 intothe position illustrated in FIG. 3 and urge gaskets 68 and 70 againstsealing elements 44 and 46.

What has been described is a simple and efficient charging door for anincinerator or any other container. The charging door is operative tonormally close the opening to the incinerator. It can only be displacedfrom its closed position when positive force is applied to thebottomless compartment. However, when force is applied to the bottomlesscompartment, the door permitting access to that compartment is sealed.Further, when the force is released from the door, the bottomlesscompartment rotates to a position where it can be reloaded and theclosure covers the opening to the incinerator. Thus a portion of thecharging door is always interposed between the user and the incineratorto prevent fires and explosions in the incinerator or incinerator chutefrom injuring the user.

While the invention has been described with reference to one particularembodiment thereof it is apparent that many other forms and embodimentswould be obvious to those skilled in the art in view of the foregoingdescription. Thus, the scope of the invention should not be limited bythe foregoing specification and drawing but rather, only by the scope ofthe claims appended hereto.

1 claim:

1. A charging door for a container having an opening comprising, aclosure for said opening, said closure being mounted for movementbetween positions which open and close said opening, a bottomlesscompartment defined by a plurality of side walls, said compartment beingcoupled to said closure for movement therewith, means coupled to saidcontainer, said last named means being located outside of said openingand defining a bottom for said compartment when said closure is in saidposition which closes said opening, means for yieldingly retaining saidclosure in said position which closes said opening, and movement of saidclosure to said position which closes said opening is operative todisplace said bottomless compartment from said bottom and align it withsaid opening so that material in said compartment can enter thecontainer.

2. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said closure has front andrear walls, and said means for yieldingly retaining said closure in saidposition which closes said opening is disposed between said front andrear walls.

3. A device as defined in claim 1 including a container, said containerhaving first and second walls defining an opening, means defining apivotable support disposed in overlying relation to said container, saidclosure having front and rear walls and being pivotally mounted on saidsupport, and said yieldingly retaining means are operative to urge saidfront and rear walls into contact with said first and second walls toclose said opening.

4. A device as defined in claim 3 wherein one of said side walls in saidbottomless compartment has a doorway therein, and a door mounted to saidone side wall for permitting access to said bottomless compartment.

5. A device as defined in claim 4 wherein said door is pivotally mountedon an axis which is parallel to the pivoting axis of said charging doorso that when said bottomless compartment is urged into alignment withsaid container opening said door is urged to said position which closessaid opening.

6. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein one of the walls of saidbottomless compartment includes blade means adjacent said bottom walland disposed transversely of the path of movement of said closure toengage material in said bottom and move it to said opening when saidclosure is moved to said position which opens said opening.

7. An incinerator, said incinerator including an inlet chute, said chutehaving an upwardly facing opening defined by at least front and rearwalls, charging means mounted for movement relative to said inlet chute,said charging means including closure means and bottomless compartmentmeans, both of said last named means being in side by side relation sothat either said closure means or said bottomless compartment can beselectively aligned with said opening.

8. An incinerator as defined in claim 7 including pivotal movement meansdefining an axis in alignment with said front wall, said charging meansbeing pivotally mounted thereto so that said closure means normallycloses said opening.

9. An incinerator as defined in claim 8 including means defining acompartment bottom, said compartment bottom means being disposedadjacent said front wall and normally lying below said bottomlesscompartment to support material to be incinerated.

10. An incinerator as defined in claim 9 wherein one of the walls ofsaid bottomless compartment defines a doorway, a door mounted on saidwall for selectively closing said doorway, and means for pivotallymounting said door for movement about an axis parallel to the axis ofmovement of said charging door.

i i i 4 1K

1. A charging door for a container having an opening comprising, aclosure for said opening, said closure being mounted for movementbetween positions which open and close said opening, a bottomlesscompartment defined by a plurality of side walls, said compartment beingcoupled to said closure for movement therewith, means coupled to saidcontainer, said last named means being located outside of said openingand defining a bottom for said compartment when said closure is in saidposition which closes said opening, means for yieldingly retaining saidclosure in said position which closes said opening, and movement of saidclosure to said position which closes said opening is operative todisplace said bottomless compartment from said bottom and align it withsaid opening so that material in said compartment can enter thecontainer.
 2. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said closure hasfront and rear walls, and said means for yieldingly retaining saidclosure in said position which closes said opening is disposed betweensaid front and rear walls.
 3. A device as defined in claim 1 including acontainer, said container having first and second walls defining anopening, means defining a pivotable support disposed in overlyingrelation to said container, said closure having front and rear walls andbeing pivotally mounted on said support, and said yieldingly retainingmeans are operative to urge said front and rear walls into contact withsaid first and second walls to close said opening.
 4. A device asdefined in claim 3 wherein one of said side walls in said bottomlesscompartment has a doorway therein, and a door mounted to said one sidewall for permitting access to said bottomless compartment.
 5. A deviceas defined in claim 4 wherein said door is pivotally mounted on an axiswhich is parallel to the pivoting axis of said charging door so thatwhen said bottomless compartment is urged into alignment with saidcontainer opening said door is urged to said position which closes saidopening.
 6. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein one of the walls ofsaid bottomless compartment includes blade means adjacent said bottomwall and disposed transversely of the path of movement of said closureto engage material in said bottom and move it to said opening when saidclosure is moved to said position which opens said opening.
 7. Anincinerator, said incinerator including an inlet chute, said chutehaving an upwardly facing opening defined by at least front and rearwalls, charging means mounted for movement relative to said inlet chute,said charging means including closure means and bottomless compartmentmeans, both of said last named means being in side by side relation sothat either said closure means or said bottomless compartment can beselectively aligned with said opening.
 8. An incinerator as defined inclaim 7 including pivotal movement means defining aN axis in alignmentwith said front wall, said charging means being pivotally mountedthereto so that said closure means normally closes said opening.
 9. Anincinerator as defined in claim 8 including means defining a compartmentbottom, said compartment bottom means being disposed adjacent said frontwall and normally lying below said bottomless compartment to supportmaterial to be incinerated.
 10. An incinerator as defined in claim 9wherein one of the walls of said bottomless compartment defines adoorway, a door mounted on said wall for selectively closing saiddoorway, and means for pivotally mounting said door for movement aboutan axis parallel to the axis of movement of said charging door.